A/N - This is my first chapter with multiple points of view. I hope that it is not too confusing for anyone. I want to re-iterate that I have enjoyed writing these stories, and I can only hope that you have enjoyed reading them nearly as much. Once again, I'd like to thank Cathode and Banadar for their criticism and advice; helping me to keep the characters true.

POE1911

HOW LIKE A FALLEN ANGEL – CHAPTER 10

IAN

We came to ourselves in an alcove off of the main structure. It was obvious that we were underground. None of us held any illusions about being undetected either; we all knew that anything with an ounce of power was aware of our arrival. No, the first things that any of us noticed were the sounds, screaming coming from two distinct voices and low guttural sounds of hunger and avidity in the background. The kind of noise you associate with the Coliseum in Rome as the Christians were thrown to the beasts. Although we were fairly well concealed, we could see the room clearly. Near us and to the left was an altar, crimson (either from blood or stained that way) surrounded by black candles. Two robed figures were standing to either side of it and two people hung suspended over it. Of course the two that were bound were Janice and Daniel, the two in the robes were the ones making them scream. The bulk of the area was occupied by demons of many shapes and varieties; although they seemed to be of the nastier sort than normal. I almost left right then, just turned and said 'the heck with it' and popped back out and left my two brethren to their fate. But then one of the robed figures stroked Janice with a sponge; from the heartrending sound that came from her throat, I can be pretty confident that it wasn't loaded with water. Suddenly I didn't care anymore; I was facing evil in some of it purest forms and I was going to purge them from this plane of existence or give my life in the attempt. Mentally I gave directions to the other five. Those with guns tore into the demons, those without started lobbing grenades; time to start evening the odds.

FAITH

I thought for a second that Ian was not going through with it. He actually seemed intimidated by the total shitload of demons that were there, but then J screamed and it was like he transformed. It was really scary, he just suddenly lit up, but it wasn't with joy or happiness; he looked like someone who had come to a decision. Those of us packing heat locked and loaded while Willow and Jenn started throwing our grenades. Ian and Dawn had their Colts, Oz had an AK-47 and I had a pair of 45 automatics. We just let the lead fly. The girls lobbed a couple of grenades in the general direction of the altar, but they just bounced off of something and had no effect on the festivities going on there. So they shifted their aim to the general populace. We opened up a hole in the middle of the assholes on the floor and so we just waded into them. I couldn't believe how fast Dawn and Ian were loading and firing, or how many demons were biting the dust. We were moving in the general direction of the altar when we split into three groups. Jenn and I were gonna free the two Seraph's, Willow and Oz were to take out the Big Bad, and Ian and Dawn were gonna handle the demons. Will fired a bolt of energy at the protected circle and shattered it. The concussion sent both the wizard and his acolyte toppling off the altar. We went to free both the Seraph. Jenn jumped up on the altar and was using her axe to cut through the chains holding them up. Thank God for slayer strength. I caught J and the other one, I think his name was Daniel and set them down on the floor. They were both really messed up; these bastards had been using whips, knives and acid on them. For whatever reason, they hadn't touched their faces, but the rest of their bodies looked like hell. Jenn was getting ready to come down when an energy bolt blew her ass off the altar, and I found myself facing the acolyte. I looked over at Will for help, but she was squaring off with the wizard and really didn't have time to help me. I was on my own against a very powerful and very pissed off person.

WILLOW

I saw Jenn come flying off the altar to land in a heap in front. I saw she was still breathing. I went to help her, but felt a huge power flare, thingy. I saw the wizard rise from where he had been thrown when his protection had been busted. Oz moved protectively in front of me, but I told him, in his mind, to watch my back because there really wasn't anything he could do to hurt this guy. I readied my defenses as best I could, 'cause I knew he'd attack. Suddenly I heard this crackling and he had these handfuls of lightning that he was using like two whips. I'd never seen anything like that, but I had an idea. My protective spells were holding for now, so I caused the air around him to saturate and condense. Just as I had hoped, the lightning was now shorting into him and baking his butt pretty darn good. He was forced to drop the spell and just stood there cursing for a second or two. I looked at Oz, and he was using his rifle to keep some of the creeps off of Ian and Dawn; because no one was coming near us. I turned back to face the wizard, because I knew it was time for a counter-attack.

IAN

Dawn and I were in the middle of this huge writhing mass of demons. Nearly every species was present in one form or another. Between the gunfire and the grenades, we had already taken a fearful toll, but there were still way too many of them. To put it bluntly Dawn and I were the bait. We knew that killing us would be the demons' first priority, so as long as we were alive, the others had a chance to do what they needed to do. As for us, well anyone who's ever been fishing knows that it never works out too well for the bait. When we decided to come, we knew it would most likely be a one way ticket, but we both realized that it was what we had to do. Evil had to be opposed, no matter what the cost. So here we were, back to back in the middle of the nastiest mass of demons that we had ever encountered. We had pretty much used up the pistols and were fighting with swords, much more useful in close quarters. At least Dawn was using two swords; I had a sword and Gabriel's dagger. We were constantly moving, hacking and thrusting; leaving a mass of bodies and limbs in our wake. I had never fought so well. We had never been so together, so seamless in our support of each other, or so lethal. What was unusual was how aware I was of the whole room. Usually I have pretty tight tunnel vision at times like this, but it was almost like I was outside myself, dispassionately observing the action. I was aware of Willow's first magical pass with the Big Bad. I knew that she had shorted out his lightning and then plastered him against the wall with a blast of sound. I knew Oz was picking off the stray demon with the rifle that he had. I could see Jenn working to free Janice and Daniel despite her obvious wounds. And I knew Faith was having quite a struggle with the acolyte. Mostly though, I was aware of Dawn. It wasn't like we were two people any more, just one being with two bodies as we savaged the churning mass of evil around us. We were taking hits; I had a pretty bad cut on my right thigh, and Dawn had taken a pretty hard blow to her upper right chest, but we were like berserks, we just shrugged the wounds off. I knew that we would both be hurting big time if we managed to live, but right now it just didn't matter. I heard a yell and looked up to where Faith was fighting with the acolyte; it looked like she needed help.

FAITH

It was your typical demon fight, only I wasn't fighting a demon. She was covered in this robe thing and had this wicked curvey knife; I was using the two knives that J had given me for Christmas. I had gotten in a few knuckle dusters and a cut or two, but so had she. The thing was; it hadn't slowed her down at all. What little I had seen of her was human, so the only thing I could think is that it was another rogue slayer. That would really be ironic. But, she was obviously into the whole mojo thing, and the only slayer like that was on the ground nearby, really messed up. I couldn't figure it. She charged at me with this half assed roar. I dropped and spun to my left, slashing at her with my right. I caught her across the side and all along her back. Unfortunately it wasn't that deep, but I bet that it hurt wicked bad. Anyway, part of her robe came away and I could finally figure it. I wanted to puke. I suppose she had started out as human, but she wasn't that way now. B had told me about the 'Initiative' when Riley was part of our happy little family. She had told me how psycho lady was trying to do some human/demon hybrid thing, making this unstoppable killer. Well, it looked like someone had run with that idea, except instead of surgery it had been done magically. Parts of the girl had been transformed into different demon bits. Why the hell would someone allow that? I didn't wanna know! She looked down and realized her secret was out; I guess it pissed her off even more because she charged again. She was strong, but clumsy, and I managed to stick both my knives into her. She stopped and turned towards me, and then she smiled. OH Shit! She wasn't stopping. I really turned loose on her, hitting her with everything I had, but the bitch just kept coming. I fired a reverse kick at her head, and it connected real well. But it left me off balance and I tripped over Jenn, dammit I was down. I rolled over but it was too late, she was on me, her hands around my neck, crap. I was looking around for help, but Willow was mojoing Mr. Badguy and Oz was watching her back. Jenn was out; and I looked out to see that Ian and Dawn were dealing with troubles of their own. I realized I was in deep shit, but for a second I just watched them. It was like watching a ballet, but with blood and shit flying everywhere. I had never seen two people move the way that they did, perfectly supporting each other and dealing a huge amount of death. I just hope they live to ice this bitch, cause it looks like I'm leaving the game.

IAN

I heard the yell and saw Faith up by the altar. The acolyte had her down and looked to be choking her to death. I could see two knives sticking out of the things body, but they obviously weren't slowing it down. Both Dawn and I were too far away, Jenn was out and Oz now had to work at guarding Willow. For a second I felt totally helpless; Faith was gonna die, and I could just watch. Then I saw something, movement where things shouldn't be moving. It was Janice; she was both alive and aware. With a mental shout, I flung Gabriel's dagger towards her, hoping that the blessing we had received hadn't already been spent. I couldn't take time to see the results because I was still fighting for both our lives. I ripped another sword out of my duster just in time to parry a cut from a very pesky Vrichla demon. Dawn reached back and cut through its throat as it stumbled from the force of my parry. She was then back hacking at three demons at the same time. You'd think that after so many of them had died, that they might hesitate or even run away, but they kept coming with the same fury as before. A few minutes later I was twisting around gutting a couple when I heard yelling and a scream from the direction of the altar, then the sound of wings, and suddenly there was fire everywhere, just what the heck was going on?

FAITH

I know they say that your life flashes in front of you; but the way I figure it is that must have been written by people who didn't actually die, so how the hell would they know. Anyway, all I was feeling was pissed off that I wasn't taking this half-demon bitch with me. She had her hands around my throat and my vision was getting all black and fuzzy, I could only really see her face. She was grinning, I do remember that, then suddenly her smile changed, there was definitely something in her mouth, and her eyes glazed. The grip eased up on my throat, and when oxygen finally started getting to my brain again I could tell that whatever was in her mouth was glowing. Suddenly it was moving up, and crap started spilling all over me. I cleared my eyes and the first thing I saw was J standing over me with this glowing dagger. She had stuck it in demon girl's head and then just split the thing open. I guess that's one way to do it. Even though J was standing, she looked more dead than alive, but she looked better than anyone else I saw. Both Jenn and that Daniel guy were awake, but definitely out of the fight; I guess he had taken more of the abuse than J had and Jenn had this really nasty wound where demon girl had mojoed her. I looked around; Will seemed to have her bit under control so I told J to guard and heal these two while I went to help Ian and Dawn. I was just hoping they didn't chop me up my mistake while I was trying to help. I pulled my knives from the dead bitch and jumped down off of the altar area when things just went nuts.

WILLOW

After the sonic blast, I knew I was gonna win, I mean someone strong enough to give me trouble would have been able to stop that easy. I know, ego much, but it's just the truth. The other thing the blast did was knock the hood off his head and I could finally see who I was dealing with, Ethan Rayne. I guess I should have known. He kept firing and I just kept blocking. He had tapped into some huge reservoir of power, but if you know the counterspell, it doesn't matter how much power is put behind an attack. He, on the other hand, was taking some pretty nasty hits. Mostly from my elemental attacks, after all; wicca, elements, you figure it out. I was about ready to put him in a suspended animation thing when he actually decided that speaking was a good idea; I guess he was desperate.

"It's not you, or even them; it's him. He's the reason."

Not making much sense here; "who's the reason."

"He's the focus, the critical piece, when he's gone, balance can be restored."

"Balance?"

"Between Order and Chaos. He is the motivating force that has put them out of balance, and now Order is ascendant. He must be removed for the balance to restore, or else Chaos will recede. Just let me kill him and I'll stop."

"You aren't killing anyone bucko, you're not even in a position to ask for anything."

"But he must die, don't you feel that?"

He still wasn't much on making sense, so I was just gonna shut him up and knock him out, when he shifted focus; it was only for a split second, but I could tell. So I was ready when he threw a fire spell at someone other than me. Screaming, I whirled and wrapped a protection spell around Oz, if that bastard wanted to play it that way, I could too. But it wasn't Oz he was aiming at. Too late, I finally understood what Chaos boy had meant.

FAITH

I had jumped into the fight to help Ian and Dawn; not that I would be much help considering the wasted state I was in, but since when did I back away from a brawl. I heard a scream from the altar and saw this gout of fire erupt from wizard guy. Willow was screaming, but both she and dog-boy were still OK. Then I realized that neither of them was the target and time seemed to slow down. It was headed right at Ian and Dawn, and they were too deep in battle to even know to duck or dodge or anything. Christ, he was gonna fry em up right in front of me. Suddenly there was a yell from the altar and that Daniel guy was jumping towards Ian, good thought, but there was no way he'd get there in time. All the sudden his wings appear and just like that, he's between Ian and Dawn and the fire. It catches him square in the back, and I can see that he's one hurtin unit. He crashes to the ground, writhing in agony and I've gotta choose between helping him or helping them. I decide to help him, so I stow my knives and start dragging his ass back to the altar. Unfortunately I look up in time to see Willow turn most of the magic guy's insides out. I'm just looking at his guts and organs as he's flopping around in them. But then he raises his head; OH MY GOD he's still alive. Despite my years as a slayer, and all the stuff I've seen in my life, I puke and pass out.

IAN

I look up as Daniel crashed screaming to the ground. He has taken a hit from some sort of fire spell or flamethrower or something and is in a bad way. Unfortunately we are in no position to help him; we're still fighting off a hairy handful of demons. A couple of minutes later there's a voice in my head that yells DUCK. I drop and I pull Dawn down with me. Over our head is a cloud, like roiling ink, and whatever it touches, dies. The demons are breaking and running, but if the cloud touches the least little bit of them, they die. No yelling or screaming or writhing, just death. Suddenly the cloud is not there, and the only sound I hear is our breathing and one man's screaming. I look towards the sound and cannot believe what I am seeing. I hear a harsh gasp from Dawn, Willow is there, but it isn't Willow, her hair is black and her face is pale and disfigured. She is bent over, talking to the still living remains of a person.

"What's the matter now, this not chaotic enough for you?" She reaches down and gives a bit of intestine a twist, eliciting another ragged scream from the thing on the floor.

I'm about to say something, when Dawn fires off "don't do this Willow."

"Why not?"

"Because we've been here before, and it's not a pretty place to be. He's not worth damaging yourself over."

"He's just an animal, look at the pain he's caused; look at you, and Ian and everyone else. He needs to pay for what he caused."

"But he's not worth you doing this to yourself."

"What, you don't like the Goth look."

"No, I like the Willow look."

"Bored now" and she turned back to the mewling thing on the floor.

Quicker than I could believe, Dawn drew her pistol and put the last ball in it through the magicians head, ending his suffering.

Willow whipped back around, rage contorting her features. She drew back her arm, power thrumming around her clenched fist. I was preparing to block her strike with everything I had, when someone move between the two women.

"That's enough Willow."

"Out of the way Oz, she killed him too quickly, now his suffering is gonna be hers."

"Why, 'cause she put him out of his misery, because she had a bit of mercy; Willow, listen to yourself."

"You don't know all the trouble he's caused, not just this but everything else that he's done. If I kept him alive for another ten years like this, it wouldn't begin to make up for what he's done."

"That was never your decision to make."

She stared at him, rage and confusion twisting her face. He took a step towards her, and she took a step back.

"He deserved what he got."

"Who are you to decide that?"

"I'm the one that had to deal with him."

"We all chose to deal with him, it wasn't just you."

I could see her confusion now, her will was no longer focused, and she was questioning herself. She took a good look at the mess that she had made of Ethan, and then she looked at the remains of the acolyte and recognized Amy. Her body just crumpled. She was sobbing and holding Oz and going on about how sorry she was. I gave a huge sigh of relief knowing that the odds of me being quick fried were finally pretty much down to zero.

My adrenalin rush was finally receding and I was beginning to feel all my wounds, and I know Dawn was feeling the same thing. None of us had life threatening injuries except Daniel, so we did what we could to heal him. Our power was pretty low, and we still needed to get home, so we could only do the most rudimentary job of it, hoping that time and Dr. Bement would be enough to heal all of us properly.

We linked what power we all had and 'caught the express' back to the Academy. We appeared in the medical area, which had been set up in the anticipation of our return (or maybe it was wishful thinking). Anyway, we showed up, and slayer trainees took over sorting out the really wounded from the kind of wounded. Buffy, after a quick count, came up to me and said "Wow, you all made it".

"If you say so" I replied and promptly passed out at her feet.